Godzilla Minus One

[Angilasman]

Toho's new Japanese Godzilla movie is now in US theaters, just a few weeks after its Japanese premiere. I saw it and... it's great! See it on the biggest screen you can!

[AnakinFlair]

Just saw it myself, and it was more than I was expecting. It wasn't just a monster movie, it was a look at how PTSD and Survivor's Guilt can haunt a person. Just a beautiful film.

[Emperorjones]

Saw it today. It was a very good film. One of the best of the year for me.

[krazijoe]

Wow. What a good movie. Light on Godzilla, heavy on story. Probably the best Godzilla movie of all time. Acting was good, it being subtitled may have caused me to miss something especially near the end. Really good story and well reasoned. It may be worthy of awards.

[CliffHanger2]

Wondering how much godzilla is actually in this. Hopefully he's not just background scenery.

[achilles]

Is he CGI, or just a guy in the best rubber suit with perhaps animatronics I've ever seen? I'm actually excited to see this movie, which is something that's been a long time coming.

[Android 17]

Gonna try to see it after work tomorrow. A lot of people was saying it actually got them emotional.

[BeastieRunner]

Going in a few hours!

[Robotech Master]

Is he CGI, or just a guy in the best rubber suit with perhaps animatronics I've ever seen? I'm actually excited to see this movie, which is something that's been a long time coming.

Minus One uses CGI for Godzilla, with probably some occasional practical things, but they haven't done suits for a few movies now.

[Donald]

Saw it this afternoon, excellent film. I felt a little bad for everyone there with their kids, this is not a pew-pew kids movie at ALL.

I wonder if this will be a one and done like Shin or the kicking off point for a new G-continuity with more monster, aliens, & junk.

[BeastieRunner]

Wondering how much godzilla is actually in this. Hopefully he's not just background scenery.

He's pretty heavily featured.

He shows up in the first 5-10 minutes and wrecks some havoc for a few minutes.

The human drama is most excellent and could easily have been a post WWII Japan movie, with the threat of the Korean War in place of Big G.

But the Godzilla destruction segments were amazing as were the "military" parts.

It was paced well and knew when to take a breather from drama, action, horror, and tension. Very funny, too, but probably not as humourous for people that can only read the sub titles. They only translated text on screen that was 100% for the plot, so there are a few Easter Eggs to find.

The background radio bits and newspapers weren't included on the subs and foreshadowed the falling action twist. Kinda wish they were but it would be akin to translating a Times Square reader board in the background of an Avengers movie talking about current news events. The subs were one of the more accurate ones I've seen from Japan in years BUT the changes were pretty much exclusively to the cursing (most of the Japanese swearing was much stronger than the subtitles and not okay for an American PG-13 rating). They also dropped a number of the curses from the sub. There was a sentence structure format used that paced with the talking without just dumping a paragraph on screen or spoiling a moment by revealing it before it is shown on screen. There was I think maybe 2-3 cultural things that were translated in a way to make sense to non-native speakers. It didn't phase my non-Japanese speaking daughter, so they clearly made sense.

I would rank it the top 5 all time Godzilla movies, easily top 3.

My ranking after only one viewing would be:

3: Gojira
2: Minus One
1. Shin

[BeastieRunner]

spoilers:

It's 1945. The film opens with our shellshocked (WWII term for PTS) kamikaze protagonist landing on Odo Island for "repairs" that are later revealed as non-existent. The lead mechanic seems to look down on him for making it up, while another sympathetic mechanic says we need more people like that value life. He contemplates this as he hears and sees strange sea creatures float to the surface. It's night and the base is awoken to strange, loud noises. A mechanic says it's the local legend Godzilla. A mechanic turns a spot light on to search and we get our first look at Minus One G, in unmutated form akin to larger theropods like Giganotosaurus, Spinosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, or Tyrannosaurus. He proceeds to destroy the base and the mechanics and our pilot Koichi run to hide in a bunker. Godzilla takes out the tower. The lead mechanic orders Koichi to killed with his planes larger gun. He runs into place as the mechanics panic and start shooting Godzilla with rifles that just piss him off. Koichi freezes when he has the shot. A mechanic get bit in half and tossed. Koichi gets another opportunity to kill Godzilla. He's still frozen. Another mechanic is bit and tossed. One gets smooshed. One gets tail whipped out of frame. Koichi jumps out of the plane. More and more destruction while more and more mechanics get killed. Godzilla chomps the plane and the bomb goes off, knocking Koichi out. Koichi awakens to morning and the lead mechanic, Tachibana, collecting all the bodies for burial. He blames Koichi for running and not doing his duty to die as these men didn't want to die. They wanted to see their families. He gives Koichi their personal effects on the boat home. Koichi come back to his hometown Ginza that was destroyed during the air raids. His neighbor reveals his parents are dead as well as her children because cowards like him ran and wouldn't die their duty to die. Koichi consuls himself with a letter from his parents that tells him to come back alive. He meets and saves a girl at a rescue center, when she passes the baby off to him. They later meet up and Noriko is impressed he didn't just dump the baby and run. She ends up squatting in his home and he lets her since she's a mom. She reveals she's not the mom and that she rescued the girl during an air raid. The baby Akiko's parents told her help her live as they died. It's 1946. Koichi is barely working and helping Noriko and Akiko out. He ends up taking a better job as a minesweeper's gunner. The crew, Captain, Doc, the Kid, and now Koichi gets good at their job. The Kid wishes he could have died for Japan, Cap and Koichi tell him otherwise. Doc is kind of quiet about that. Cap looks down on Koichi for being a failed Kamikaze but wants up to him because he's a great shot. With success comes electricity and a dinner party with Koichi, Akiko, Noriko, and the crew. They assume she's his wife and Akiko's dad, but he gets mad. Tells them the beautiful story of how they all came together. They call him a stupid fucking fool for not marrying her as they clearly love each other. He says his war is not over, that is why he won't marry her. Noriko clearly hears this in the kitchen. It's 1947. The US tests bombs at Bikini Atoll. Koichi has a nightmare of Godzilla and the night of the repair base. Godzilla mutates in his dream. A giant unidentified sea organism is spotted soon thereafter, destroying US Naval ships. Fearing a war with the Soviets, the US tells Japan to deal with it since it's on the way. General Douglas MacArthur tells Japan to arm themselves. Japan gets a hold of 5 decommissioned Japanese Naval ships, the main one the war hero, heavy cruiser Takao. Koichi and crew are dispatched to intercept Godzilla but quickly ascertain they at best a distraction till the Takao arrives. Koichi urges them to run. A chase ensues that they obviously cannot win when they try to kill him. They end up using a recovered mine to blow up in Godzilla's mouth ... But he regenerates and is very, very angry. But the hero ship arrives to save the day! Godzilla can't handle the heavy artillery and goes down with severe injuries ... Only to unleash his thermonuclear death breath, destroying the ship in a massive nuclear explosion. An aside, this is easily one of G's strongest breaths on film. Koichi tells Noriko all about it. I can't remember if it was here or earlier that Koichi confides with her about his survivor's guilt and the incident at the repair depot, including him faking repairs and freezing up. Noriko informs Koichi she is taking a job and pushes him a bit on marriage, as he pretty much alluded he wants to but says his war is not over yet. Godzilla makes landfall in Japan, attacking Ginza prefecture where Noriko works. Noriko witnesses the attack while Koichi flees to save her. He leaves Akiko with the neighbor. Godzilla wreaks havoc in Ginza. Just pure, awesome destruction. Stomping people. Smashing buildings. Eating trains. Throwing vehicles. Our hero finds his love after nearly being eaten. Some tanks hurt G like the heavy cruiser, but he appears to be more armored now and just regenerates after every shell. He gets pissed and unleashes his death breath in full glory on semi-distant Tokyo. A mushroom cloud forms. Noriko shoves Koichi down an alley as the concussive blast blows her and others away. The secondary suctioning blast further eviscerates those not in shelter. We are left with a broken Koichi searching and screaming for his love all while seeing Godzilla calmly admiring his work as the mushroom cloud dissipates, roaring in triumph. A plan is hatched to stop Godzilla as the Japanese government says they can't help. So the citizens devise one. Doc is revealed by the former Navy man (he looks so familiar, I think he was a Kamen Rider) as the mastermind to take G down. Using science, the plan is to envelope Godzilla in a freeon cocoon by exploding freeon tanks I the water around him. This will rapidly reduce his bouncy and either freeze or crush him in the trench. If that doesn't work, Plan B is a rapid assent with CO2 balloons to induce explosion by rapid decompression. They need a pilot to lure him and Koichi volunteers to fly a prototype Shinden jet in disrepair. Doc says these have an ejection seat and Koichi says they're faster than the death ray. Koichi is determined to get the lead mechanic, Tachibana, to work on it. He gets him to help by angering him to come and reveals why he ran and that he wants to make it right. Doc and Captain ban the Kid from helping. Koichi asks Tachibana to install bombs into the jet because he will fly into Godzilla's mouth and destroy it from the inside as he knows it is weak there. This is to further make amends for his botched Kamikaze run, the incident at the depot, and to reunite with Noriko in the afterlife. He leaves money with Akiko to give to his neighbor so she can be taken care of after his death. Plan A goes into motion with a decoy ship. Godzilla nukes it and they start sinking him because Doc says it takes time for G to recharge. He hits bottom ... but Godzilla survives. Plan be goes into motion and starts to burst Godzilla, but he chews through the plan literally. The ships are too damaged but a fleet of tugboats led by the Kid shows up to help bring a shattering Godzilla to the surface. All appears lost as Godzilla powers up (by the way, coolest power up on film IMHO). Koichi swoops in to smash into G's mouth and pulls the arming lever. It explodes and we slowly see a headless Godzilla. He starts sinking as the death breath over loads and a chunk of a shattered Godzilla plummets. Cap, Doc, the hangar team, and others think Koichi is dead. Somebody alerts to the sky as Koichi's parachute deploys. In a short flashback, the rest of the hangar scene plays out showing that Tachibana forgave Koichi, explained about the ejector seat, and asked him to live for Akiko. Meanwhile back at Koichi's neighbors, she gets a telegram, and rushes to find the heroes as they return. Koichi reads it at the port and the neighbor smacks him as she tells him to go. Akiko and Koichi race to the hospital to find Noriko, who survived the blast. She asks him if his war is over. He says yes. Noriko embraces her family as she is shown to have some form of radiation sickness, which taking the form of one of Godzilla's dorsal plates on her neck. The film ends with a slow zoom into a chunk of Godzilla's remaining flesh sinks to the bottom of the ocean. BUMMM ... BUM BUM BUM BUM BUMMMMM ... And it begins to regenerate.

end of spoilers

[CliffHanger2]

He's pretty heavily featured.

He shows up in the first 5-10 minutes and wrecks some havoc for a few minutes.

The human drama is most excellent and could easily have been a post WWII Japan movie, with the threat of the Korean War in place of Big G.

But the Godzilla destruction segments were amazing as were the "military" parts.

It was paced well and knew when to take a breather from drama, action, horror, and tension. Very funny, too, but probably not as humourous for people that can only read the sub titles. They only translated text on screen that was 100% for the plot, so there are a few Easter Eggs to find.

The background radio bits and newspapers weren't included on the subs and foreshadowed the falling action twist. Kinda wish they were but it would be akin to translating a Times Square reader board in the background of an Avengers movie talking about current news events. The subs were one of the more accurate ones I've seen from Japan in years BUT the changes were pretty much exclusively to the cursing (most of the Japanese swearing was much stronger than the subtitles and not okay for an American PG-13 rating). They also dropped a number of the curses from the sub. There was a sentence structure format used that paced with the talking without just dumping a paragraph on screen or spoiling a moment by revealing it before it is shown on screen. There was I think maybe 2-3 cultural things that were translated in a way to make sense to non-native speakers. It didn't phase my non-Japanese speaking daughter, so they clearly made sense.

I would rank it the top 5 all time Godzilla movies, easily top 3.

My ranking after only one viewing would be:

3: Gojira
2: Minus One
1. Shin

Okay that's good news. I'll def wanna check this out in theaters.

[Android 17]

This film is a masterpiece and definitely deserves all the praise it’s getting.

Besides being amazed at how they made such a visually stunning movie with just 15 million dollars, I was really engaged with the drama amongst the humans. Really well done.

Second only to Gojira for me.

[achilles]

This film is a masterpiece and definitely deserves all the praise it’s getting.

Besides being amazed at how they made such a visually stunning movie with just 15 million dollars, I was really engaged with the drama amongst the humans. Really well done.

Second only to Gojira for me.

Speaking of that last one, I have the Criterion Collection version which has the original 1954 Gojira with subtitles, plus the 1956 US version "Godzilla, King of the Monsters", which is in English and pointlessly has Raymond Burr because they thought "too many Japanese people in the Japanese movie for American audiences to like". The Japanese original is 100 time better than the Burr version IMO, much tighter and more focused on the horror part of the story. Sometimes I wonder about American execs.

I shall see Minus One this week sometime, and eagerly anticipate it replacing Gojira at the top of my all-time Godzilla movie list.